‘The Kraken Wakes’ by John Wyndham

After a series of fireballs rain down from the sky, crash into the oceans of the world and ships begin sinking mysteriously, two journalists, who experience the strange phenomenon from aboard ship, relate the story of the alien ‘invasion’ and humankind’s struggle to survive.

Though I’m a big fan of John Wyndham, this one really didn’t grip me at all. After the initial excitement of the aliens’ arrival, the first half of the book tells the story through a series of meetings, broadcasts and reports, detailing how the bizarre beings initially don’t seem to do very much, but then gradually launch a kind of assault, sending out ‘sea-tanks’ to capture people from coastal communities.

The latter part of the book, where the icecaps begin to melt and sea levels rise, is more interesting, but if it hadn’t been written by Wyndham, I’d have given up.

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6 comments for “‘The Kraken Wakes’ by John Wyndham”

Rare that anyone posts anything about John Wyndham. Read this long ago after I saw/read Day of the Triffids, but couldn’t even remember what it was about. Always think of Wyndham’s novels as being very short/thin, but just checked on Amazon and its a full 288 pages.

I have read all of John Wyndham’s books and I am completely bowled over by his genius considering when he wrote. My favourites are Day of the Triffids, The Chrysalids and Trouble with Lichen, in that order.